It was close enough to touch. It was burning down his neighbor's house. It was creeping toward Jensen's own fence 10 feet away, and he started spraying the fire with his hose.

Police ordered Jensen to get back, and he complied.

But after a few minutes passed without firefighters arriving, a frustrated Jensen stepped forward and leaned down to grab the skinny gray garden hose once again.

That's when he heard the order.

"Hit 'em! Take him down! Tase him!"

Within moments, Jensen was on the ground. He felt electric.

"It was all over me," Jensen said. "Crawling all over me."

The 42-year-old commercial fisherman is still struggling to comprehend exactly how things deteriorated so quickly Thursday. He said he doesn't understand why police shot him with a Taser that night as he tried to battle a house fire at 3420 Beechwood Ter. N.

Jensen's family, friends and neighbors have been quick to defend him and accuse police of crossing a line.

"It was wrong," he said. "There's no way around it. I was fighting a fire. I wasn't fighting police. I thought they were here to help me. Instead, they hurt me."

Police said they can sympathize with the stress Jensen was under. But they said he put himself and officers in danger when he refused to back down from fighting the fire.

Pinellas Park Capt. Sanfield Forseth told the Tampa Bay Times authorities could have even charged Jensen with obstruction, but decided against it.

Jensen's attorney, Heidi Imhof, said she believes authorities are trying to deflect attention from their actions that night. She called the Taser use "excessive force."

"They can't just Taser anyone," she said. "He's an unarmed person on his private property trying to fight a fire."

Imhof said the officers had other options. They could have yanked Jensen away, she said, or just turned off the water.

The agency's policy says officers must issue a warning before using a Taser, "except when such warning could provide a tactical advantage to the subject."

Imhof said her client was never warned.

Jensen said he's "disappointed" in police.

He said that when they arrived on the scene, they told him to back off and let insurance take care of it. He did for a few minutes but grew impatient and irate. He picked up the hose again because he thought firefighters weren't getting there soon enough.

Officials told the Times it took six minutes for fire fighters to respond.

I used my garden hose on a fire while waiting for the fire dept. once. I got a brief honorable mention in the newspaper for it. No tazers. Of course, I live in the good old U.S. OF A unlike the guy in this story.

 Police said they can sympathize with the stress Jensen was under. But they said he put himself and officers in danger when he refused to back down from fighting the fire.

Warren v. District of Columbia
Police do not have a duty to provide police services to individuals.

Published: June 28, 2005
WASHINGTON, June 27  The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the police did not have a constitutional duty to protect a person from harm, even a woman who had obtained a court-issued protective order against a violent husband making an arrest mandatory for a violation.

How are they in danger when they know they have no duty to protect him, according to SCOTUS?

The 42-year-old commercial fisherman is still struggling to comprehend exactly how things deteriorated so quickly Thursday. He said he doesn't understand why police shot him with a Taser that night as he tried to battle a house fire at 3420 Beechwood Ter. N.

It is because he isn't an "official" government agent. Only "official" government agents are authorized to fight fires.

13
posted on 11/14/2012 8:13:31 PM PST
by Inyo-Mono
(My greatest fear is that when I'm gone my wife will sell my guns for what I told her I paid for them)

Simple. The police have a system worked out, so when they get a code over the radio that means they don’t have to run around or put themselves in any danger, they rush over to those calls so they can stand around and drink coffee. Then, they take their sweet time getting to the tough calls, hoping the suspects will have fled already, so they can stand around and drink coffee.

Police said they can sympathize with the stress Jensen was under. But they said he put himself and officers in danger when he refused to back down from fighting the fire.

I detest these small-brained idiots with a little authority. They don't know it's not enough to SAY that he put himself and officers in danger when he refused to continue fighting a fire that threatened his property.How exactly, you morons?Obama may get away with that crap, but you incompetents can't.

Pinellas Park Capt. Sanfield Forseth told the Tampa Bay Times authorities could have even charged Jensen with obstruction, but decided against it.

Then charge him, pea-brain! I relish the thought of a trial and the decision of a jury.Or be prepared to lose a suit for abuse of power under color of authority. I would contribute to this victim's defense.

I used my garden hose on a fire while waiting for the fire dept. once. I got a brief honorable mention in the newspaper for it. No tazers. Of course, I live in the good old U.S. OF A unlike the guy in this story.

I am glad that I don’t work there. Around here the police assist homeowners with anything that they have got to help keep fires under control until we arrive. They worry us because they often run into burning rooms with extinguishers or garden hoses and no protective clothing. The police that I work with are determined to protect people and property. I have been to dozens of incidents where the police and/or residents have put out or kept fires from spreading using garden hoses. I thought that I worked in a screwed up liberal part of the country... but at least a little common sense still prevails around here.

What irks me mist is that dangling over our heads are thousands of laws, of which no one—not regular citizens nor cops nor lawyers—has comprehensive knowledge, any one of which we can be guilty of at any moment. That, not absence of rules, represents the bad kind of anarchy. The worst are the elastic charges like obstruction, disorderly conduct, etc. through which cops on the scene become absolute dictators.

Imhof said the officers had other options. They could have yanked Jensen away, she said, or just turned off the water.

But that way they couldn't have watched him twitching in agony on the ground. So cool!

Change the police department personnel policies to screen for sadists. Fire the sadists on the force (or at least keep them away from the public). Don't hire the sadists who want a badge for all the wrong reasons.

“Under new law Homeowners may face 6 years in prison and fines of $100,000 Dollars a Day for Washing Car in Driveway”

I followed that link because I thought that you were kidding.

You were not.

You know, the Russians made a big damn mistake letting East Germany go. I think that the entire Stasi wound up here.

No wonder property values in California crashed and will probably not come back in our lifetimes. Apparently, the only thing you can do in or around “your” (and I use the term loosely) house is sleep and store your car so that you can go to work and pay the mortgage and property taxes on it! What a deal!

And they claim that slavery was abolished!

39
posted on 11/14/2012 9:22:05 PM PST
by The Antiyuppie
("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.")

That wont work, because then there wont be nearly enough applicants.

I know you are kidding (especially in this economy), but it is worth stating clearly that cops aren't all sadists, and there are good cops who are very valuable to their communities. I hope they are more common than I think they are.

So, who will protect us then?

How 'bout the good cops protect us from the bad cops, and we protect ourselves from the criminals?

Government finds it very easy to give its armed agents a pass at the use of force. As in this outrageous case, everything can be solved by force. Tasers make using that force easier so it lowers the bar and lazy police will reach for their trusty Taser rather than taking a more peaceful option that might be more work.

“Good” cops who do not arrest, charge and testify against the abuses
they witness other LEO commit are not !good cops” they are every bit
as bad as the ones who commit the crimes under color of authority.

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